Partly Cloudy, 61° F
Amos had a joyful celebration of his 101st birthday Jan. 23, became ill immediately after and died Jan. 31 at Spirit Mountain Hospice. When a person lives that long and remembers in detail most of his experiences, that’s profound. Those of us lucky enough to have known him benefited from his experience and wisdom.
He was the last surviving member of his birth family (father, James Monroe Vredenburg; mother Nina Gertrude Kemmish Vredenburg; siblings James Kenneth, Donald Arthur, Charles Bernley, Dorothy Marie, and Ila May).
Born in Pisgah, Iowa, his family moved to various communities in Missouri as they survived the Depression years. Amos liked school. He completed high school at Middletown High School in 1942, then spent the rest of his life educating himself. He voraciously read diverse subject matter. It amused his children that he frequently identified factual errors in nonfiction books. Amos was open-minded and ready to suspend his perspective, no matter how strongly held, long enough to carefully listen to yours. He was a generous, kind humanitarian.
Amos worked hard all his life at one thing or another — cutting firewood with his dad and brothers, shoveling lime for farm field enhancement during his junior high and high school years, leading U.S. Army convoys in Europe at the tail end of World War II, and being a federal prison guard, electrician, truck driver and more. His longest commitment was 33 years in Wyoming’s oil industry, most of it at Elk Basin north of Powell. Starting as a maintenance roustabout, he was president of the union before advancing to maintenance gang foreman, maintenance foreman, and lastly a new plant construction inspector. He retired at 63 but continued operating and irrigating his pasture farmland south of Powell. He maintained a large garden and delighted in sharing corn and produce.
In February 1948, Amos was on his way to Oregon for work in the timber industry. He stopped in Powell to visit his sister Ila Graham and never left. He married Eva Lou Ila Graham the following September. They were both 25. It was a good match. While very different people, they were in sync about the things that matter in life. Amos and Eva Lou shared a love of nature, people, and the planet. Five still surviving children were born to them: Laurel (Fred Watkins), Scott (Sheri), JoAmy Rice, Matt (Sheree) and Mark. Their home was always open, and they hosted numerous teenagers they wanted to support. In their later years they demonstrated their commitment to people and education by creating an endowed scholarship at Northwest College which today supports dozens of students each semester.
Eva Lou died when Amos was 80. He never got over missing her, but he carried on, always reflecting on the lessons she taught him. He dived into computing and became a day trader. He was a good mechanic and inventor. He regularly manufactured what he or those he loved needed. A screen cover for a foot value? Let me weld one up. Improvements on that lawn mower? Done. He kept scrap and used it often to solve problems be they mechanical, electrical or otherwise. He customized his motorcycle to become the ultimate irrigation assistant. He rode his bicycle and meticulously documented the miles and physical gain. At age 83 he and his two daughters ran the Grand Canyon on a seven-day tour guided by Berkeley’s National Center for Science Education. He kept exploring, learning and doing.
This remarkable man will be deeply missed by his children, five grandchildren, four greatgrandchildren and numerous extended family members and friends. He taught us all to treasure our existence on this “pale blue dot” as Carl Sagan called our amazing planet. No services are planned but the family will gather to scatter Amos and Eva Lou’s ashes.
Anyone wishing to offer a memorial gift may consider the Vredenburg/Graham Scholarship at Northwest College.
Thanks to Thompson Funeral Home for its service.
